Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Call for Action to Reduce Mobile Phone Radiation

The European Environment Agency published a major report to alert governments about the need to attend to early warning signs about technology health risks, including mobile phones.

The 750-page volume, “Late Lessons from Early Warnings,” which includes
twenty new case studies, has major implications for policy, science and
society. Although the report was
prepared by the European Environment Agency to provide guidance to the EU nations,
its implications are global. (1)

Brain tumor risk associated with cell phone use is addressed
in one of the report's chapters. (2) The World
Health Organization (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer's (IARC) classificationof this form of electromagnetic radiation
(EMR) as "possibly carcinogenic", or cancer causing, is highlighted.

The report reviews the research that has found increased brain tumor risk
associated with long term mobile phone use. The authors note that governments and
industry have been slow to respond to IARC’s precautionary warnings in May, 2011, and
urges policy makers to respond to early warnings more quickly. It argues that industries that cause future
harm must pay for the damage and suggests that taking early precautions "can
stimulate rather than stifle innovation."

The report accuses the mobile phone industry of “inertia in
considering the various studies and taking the IARC carcinogenic classification
into account,” criticizes the media for not “providing the public with robust
and consistent information on potential health risks,” and attacks governments
for shirking “their responsibilities to protect public health from this
widespread source of radiation.”

Although the report acknowledges the many benefits of mobile
phones to society, it recommends the need for precautionary actions to reduce cell
phone radiation exposures to minimize the extent and seriousness of health risks
to the brain and other organsof the body.

The report makes four specific recommendations about cell
phones:

a.Governments, the mobile phone industry, and the
public should take all reasonable measures to reduce EMR exposure, especially
from mobile phones, particularly exposure to children and young adults who are
likely at greatest risk for brain and salivary gland tumors. The report recommends texting,
use of hands-free devices, and improved design of phones to generate less
radiation and make hands-free use more convenient.

b.Governments should reconsider the scientific
basis for the present exposure standards “which have serious limitations such
as reliance on the contested thermal effects paradigm; and simplistic
assumptions about the complexities of radio frequency exposures.” Bioeffects have been found for exposures considerably less than the FCC's legal limit allows.

c.Mobile phones should be required to have effective
labeling and warnings about potential risks for users. San Francisco is the first municipal government in the U.S. to adoptsuch legislation, but the CTIA (wireless industry association), has blocked implementation of the law in court arguing that it violates the industry's free speech rights.

d.Adequate funding should be provided for the “urgently
needed research into the health effects of phones” and base stations. Funding could include industry grants and a
small fee on the purchase and/or use of mobile phones. A nickel a month collected on each cell phone subscription in the U.S. would generate
sufficient funds to undertake the needed training and research to
head off this potential epidemic.

It is time for the U.S. to end its decades of denial and
assume a leadership role in adopting precautionary measures to reduce the
potential harms associated with exposure to mobile phone radiation. (3) Otherwise we may face a steep price in terms of preventable health care costs, lost productivity, reduced survival and quality of life.

New technologies have sometimes had very harmful effects, but in many
cases the early warning signs have been suppressed or ignored. The second
volume of Late Lessons from Early Warnings investigates specific cases where
danger signals have gone unheeded, in some cases leading to deaths, illness and
environmental destruction.